Password Manager On USB Key Launches On Kickstarter

myIDkey is a secure USB device that acts as a hardware password manager. The device authenticates the user with a fingerprint swipe. It talks Bluetooth to your mobile device and you talk to it to get it to display secured data such as passwords. But you can't buy it yet; today they launched on Kickstarter for funding.

Arkami, Inc. today launched myIDKey on Kickstarter, looking for $150,000 of funding and to gauge interest. The device is not yet available for purchase and pricing has not been decided.

myIDkey is a secure USB key that stores passwords and other user data. The device authenticates the user through a fingerprint swipe on a built-in reader. Users can optionally add a sequence of taps on the reader as another authentication factor.

Users can plug the key into a computer where it interacts with myIDkey software to function as a password manager, auto-filling userid and password fields like others. Plugging the device into a computer will also charge the battery in the myIDkey.

In a demo of the product, for example, a user presses a button on the myIDkey and then says "Chase Manhattan" whereupon the myIDKey displays "CHASE MANHATTAN" and secret data associated with it on a built-in OLED screen.

For interacting with mobile devices, myIDKey communicates over Bluetooth, providing password management using their iOS and Android apps.

myIDkey has several high-end security features. It can be set to erase all secure data after some number of failed attempts to gain access. It can be restored, with proper authorization, from backups on your own local storage, a cloud service like Dropbox or Arkami's cloud. The device itself is designed so that you would have to destroy it in order to open it up and access the internal components.

The company is seeking certification under FIPS 140-2, a standard for secure cryptographic devices required by many government agencies and private organizations.

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